As a good resource, there is a list of cards (AGP and PCI) and DOS compatibility here: https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/

This can provide some guidance in terms of what to expect with different cards and DOS compatibility with specific games.

Insofar as recommendations, it depends on what games you want to play. If you plan any sort of 3D accelerated games, then a TNT or TNT2 based card would be my recommendation. They still will have good 2D performance and generally good DOS compatibility.

If all you care about is 2D performance and compatibility then an S3 based card should suffice. I use an S3 Trio64V+ in my Socket 7 Pentium 133 build and it works just fine under DOS. Though I admittedly do not use this system with Windows.

Hello!

There are only two cards that meets your needs:

• S3 ViRGE/DX 4MB: Has the best DOS compatibility and strong 2D performance.
• nVidia TNT2 M64 16MB: The only card that has good 3D capabilities of the bunch without having to spend on a 3dfx card. DOS compatibility is good (second to S3), and it also has excellent 2D performance.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2022-11-17, 21:07:

Hello! […]
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Hello!

There are only two cards that meets your needs:

• S3 ViRGE/DX 4MB: Has the best DOS compatibility and strong 2D performance.
• nVidia TNT2 M64 16MB: The only card that has good 3D capabilities of the bunch without having to spend on a 3dfx card. DOS compatibility is good (second to S3), and it also has excellent 2D performance.

Thank you for the reply. What about the Diamond card?
I am concerned also about vga quality, since I heard S3 Virge DX has low quality output. The S3 Virge looks like this. Seems to be Eagle.

I refrained from mentioning the Diamond card due to having a BIOS with minor compatibility issues with some DOS games according to Gona's list, however it is a S3 video card (Trio64 or Vision968, the latter usually having a external RAMDAC like Matrox Millenium cards).

The output quality of the S3 ViRGE/DX varies between manufacturer, but yours is clearly a noname one and has a low memory clock (50 MHz) which isn't great. The best ones have a memory clock around 60-75MHz.

The important stuff has been said already: Stay away from Matrox.
These cards have a good 2D performance. That what they were famous for back in the day. But compatibility to older games is really shitty. Nobody cared about that back in the day. Today we care. You won't see many Matrox cards in use on VOGONS.

S3 probably has the best 2D compatibility.
But your cards are either too new or too old. The Diamond has a Vision968 chip. You ideally want the one between Vision968 and Virge: Trio64(V+)
Stay away from those with just 2MB of RAM. The 4MB ones can be a bit pricy but maybe you can find one for cheap.

The TNT2 also offers good 2D compatibility and is capable to run 3D games. But you will probably not be satisfied by the performance. I'd rather use the Pentium for 2D only and look for a cheap AGP board. Pentium 3/4 or Athlon Classic/XP/64. Just slap a GeForce2 MX for $5 onto it.
By the way: 100 bucks for a PCI TNT2 is a bit much. You're looking at asking price, not what people actually pay for it. 50 bucks is more realistic.